12:29 PM, June 25, 2012

The Supreme Court in Washington on Monday, June 25, 2012. The Supreme Court ruled Monday that it is unconstitutional for state laws to require juveniles convicted of murder to be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. / Evan Vucci/AP

By Jeff Gerritt

Detroit Free Press Columnist

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The U.S. Supreme Court today did what Michigan politicians didnít have the courage or wisdom to do: Outlaw the mandatory sentencing of juveniles to life in prison without parole. The 5-4 decision by a conservative high court is in line with earlier rulings, including banning the death penalty for juveniles, as well as life without parole for young people whose crimes did not involve a killing. The Supreme Court decision on cruel and unusual punishment will finally dismantle Michiganís barbaric juvenile lifer law, which forces judges to give kids as young as 14 ó an age when they cannot legally drive or buy a pack of cigarettes ó the maximum adult penalty for first-degree murder, with no chance for parole.

With more than 2,500 juvenile lifers, the United States is alone in handing down mandatory life sentences to children, according to Human Rights Watch. Michigan has the nation's second highest number of such cases ó more than 350. All of the cases involve murder, but about half of the convictions in Michigan were for aiding and abetting the crime. In the case of Henry Hill, for example, one of Michiganís juvenile lifers Iíve written about, an off-duty police officer testified that Hill was running from the scene when the victim was shot. Hill, now 48, has spent 30 years in prison for a crime he committed when he was 16. Moreover, some aider-and-abettors received harsher sentences than the actual killers got. For a third, the crime was their first offense. Two-thirds of Michiganís juvenile lifers are African American. The Michigan Department of Corrections has requested a legal opinion on the Supreme Court decision, but the ruling clearly strikes down Michiganís law and gives juvenile lifers the right to petition for resentencing or a parole hearing.

Michiganís juvenile lifer law was enacted during the 1980s, when many draconian measures, including three-strike laws, were approved around the country. For more than a decade, bills repealing Michiganís juvenile lifer law languished in committees, the victim of spineless politicians who didnít want to appear soft on crime. In 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit ó Hill v. Snyder ó on behalf of nine Michigan inmates who were sentenced to life in prison for crimes they committed as minors. ďThe Supreme Court decision vindicates our argument that Michiganís sentencing scheme is unconstitutional,íí Rana Elmir of the ACLU of Michigan told me today. Although the robbery and murder case decided by the Supreme Court involved two 14-year-olds, Elmir said the ruling applies to all juvenile lifers under 18. Thatís significant because Michiganís criminal justice system considers 17-year-olds as adults.

A Wayne State University survey found that, when given alternatives, only 5% of state residents support forcing judges to give some kids as young as 14 life sentences, without possibility of parole. Michiganís juvenile lifer law contradicts science, legal tradition, public opinion and plain common sense. Itís also immoral, a symptom of a society that has all but given up on the idea of redemption and second chances.

Brain imaging research shows what every parent knows: Teenage brains are more impulsive and unstable than adult brains ó even without the abuse and neglect that many of these young people have faced. Juveniles donít have the same legal rights and responsibilities as adults because they lack the maturity and judgment to handle them. Nor should they suffer the same punishments.

Without the courage or compassion to strike down the stateís draconian juvenile lifer law, Michigan's politicians have left it to the Supreme Court to drag the state into the 21st Century.